Why cloud computing is an important factor for tech business growth

Britain is home to steadily increasing tech startup scene. According to the recent Tech Nation report, technology is the most important industry in the UK. And with 50 per cent of digital companies in the UK having been founded since 2008, startups are making up a massive part of that industry.

AD

Advances in technology such as cloud computing are helping tech startups to start and grow in a scalable way. We have recently caught up with a number of successful tech startups who have shared their experiences of setting up and expanding their businesses using cloud computing.

First up we Ian Warford, the head of products at mporium. mporium provide clients with mcommerce sites in order to drive their online business experience both on desktop and mobile.

According to Warford: “Cloud computing for us has been a phenomenal asset. We currently use Microsoft Cloud services that enable us to implement high end technology in a matter of seconds that would have previously taken us a year. Cloud computing has helped to reduce our time to market, cost of development, time to implement as well as the overall complexity of working in the fast moving tech industry.

“By using cloud computing there is no need to invest in additional hardware or maintenance. It has helped to transform the way we run our business. Our advice for new tech startups is to use cloud services wherever you can. In the past procuring and installing new hardware would have taken up vital time and resources, but cloud computing offers businesses essential services on demand.”

Next we have Lee Thompson, head of product at Loyalive. Loyalive has developed a live loyalty card app that allows users to store their loyalty cards on the phone, view live balances and discover what those balances are worth.

“Our operations are based in central London, but the various cloud computing platforms we use to deliver the business means we really can work anywhere. The recent tube strike on our launch day meant we had three developers and myself in separate locations co-ordinating the launch of our app remotely,” Thompson explained.

“We communicated using Google’s apps for business (which were super easy to setup), kept the chatter going with Slack, and uploaded our app to the cloud-based stores, all without missing a beat. Plus, the infrastructure of our app is hosted on Amazon Web Services – meaning we’re ready to scale in minutes as our user base increases, without the costly space, time or hardware overhead. It also gives our CEO peace of mind that when he’s at meetings with partners, potential investors, or even just at home outside office hours, he can still log in and see our apps performance, or stay part of the discussion with Slack, or edit a document on the go with Google Docs.

“When we moved offices two weeks ago, we didn’t have servers to set up. We didn’t have cables to run and permissions to set. We simply plugged in our router and got back to work – no additional costs, no additional hardware needed. It actually took longer to get our single phone line connected than it did to get connected and carry on working.”

Continue reading on the next page to discover how the cloud has supported operations in diverse companies including Kaldor, a mobile publishing platform, and small business human resources service HRLocker.